Food and beverages are served at most social gatherings. However, it is frequently difficult for a guest to juggle his food and beverage, especially while standing. Generally, one or more items have to be placed on a flat surface in order to free one hand or the other for eating. At many social gatherings flat surfaces can be hard to come by. Therefore, there is a need for a party tray that can easily be held in one of the user's hands while the user is eating with the other hand.
Prior art plates and trays that attempt to alleviate this problem generally include a hole for the user's thumb that allows the user to grip the tray or plate in some fashion. However, most of the prior art trays require that the user's fingers support the weight of everything on the tray, including a beverage container. Additionally, some of the prior art trays cannot be set down without first removing beverage containers and/or other items. Furthermore, most of these trays are difficult to eat from because the pressure of a fork or knife on the tray must be supported by the fingers, which may be awkward to balance and not provide enough support.
One party plate that attempts to alleviate such awkward balancing and support is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,910 to van de Graaf, Jr. which issued Jun. 28, 1994. This party plate includes a typical thumbhole in a corner of the plate, but is configured to be supported by the user's forearm. However, the relationship of the thumbhole to the rest of the tray requires that this plate be held solely in the user's left hand.